Pistol Pete takes his final bow on center court
By WAYNE COFFEY, DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
August 24, 2003
Pete Sampras, who won 2002 U.S. Open as No. 17 seed,officially announces his retirement tonight.
Fifteen years ago in Philadelphia, before a midweek, midafternoon crowd of maybe 75 people, a 16-year-old high school dropout from Los Angeles made his pro debut against an ATP Tour veteran named Sammy Giammalva Jr.
The event was the U.S. Pro Indoor Championship, the site the Spectrum, the month February. Giammalva, a strong returner whose ranking went as high as No. 30, had little problem dispatching the kid - 6-4, 6-3 - and little doubt that Pete Sampras would not be losing matches for very long.
"I walked off the court and knew I'd played a great player, and that it would be just be a matter of time," Giammalva said.
Sammy Giammalva owns a racket club in Houston these days. He talked about Sampras Saturday night, after playing in a father-son tournament with Sammy III, age 6. He will watch with admiration tonight, when the U.S. Open commences with closure, and a salute to the newly retired Sampras, owner of a record 14 Grand Slam titles, the last of them coming 50 weeks ago on the same hardcourt where he will be honored tonight, in a scintillating victory over Andre Agassi.
It turned out to be Sampras' final match. Sampras grew up idolizing Rod Laver, appreciating the serve-and-volley artistry and graceful comportment of the greats from the past. The idea of finishing up with a title, with a splendid match against his greatest rival, was too perfect to resist. The symmetry - he won his first Grand Slam at the Open in 1990 by beating Agassi - wasn't easy to top either.
The victory made Sampras the youngest Open champion, at 19 years, 28 days. Agassi calls playing against Sampras "the greatest opportunity I'ver ever had - something that is never promised to any athlete no matter how great your career is, which is somebody to have a rivalry with.
"I'll never forget all our matches. We've played in the finals of the Australian, the finals of the U.S. Open three times, the finals of Wimbledon. We've been everywhere together, and now that will no longer be the case."
Jim Courier is another contemporary of the 32-year-old Sampras. His first vivid memory of Sampras came in a junior Davis Cup camp in Santa Barbara, Calif., Courier 15, Sampras a year younger. The players had to begin each day with a 7:15 a.m. run. "He was always the last one out of bed, and had the most swollen eyes," Courier said. "Everyone made fun of him."
Courier would go on to be a top-ranked player himself, a winner of four Slams, including two French Opens - the one major title that would elude Sampras. As much as he appreciated Sampras' stunning athleticism and deft volleys, Courier was most taken by Sampras' serve - and not just the first one. One of the foremost weapons in the history of the game, Sampras' serve wasn't just about its pace. It was about where he'd put it, and when.
"He was a great pitcher, and he knew he could put the strike on the outside corner when he needed, too," Courier said. "That was a large part of his genius - not only having the shot, but having the confidence to go for it at a big moment."
Big moments, indeed, were what drove Sampras. He was forever talking about the majors, about how they were the ultimate definition of greatness. In his career, his non-Grand Slam record was 559-184, a .752 winning percentage. In Slams, it was 203-38, or .842. At the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, Sampras' favorite tennis place of all and where he won an unsurpassed seven titles, his record was even better (134-16,.893).
"He's certainly the greatest player in the modern era, and you can put him in a conversation with Rod Laver as the greatest player ever," Courier said.
Emotionally restrained and almost clinical in his brilliance, Sampras was often accused of being boring, an automaton beneath his bushy eyebrows and hangdog bearing. He was never as dashing or charismatic as Agassi, and Paul Annacone, the coach he reunited with just before making his final Open run last year, is convinced his fluid style and unfaltering restraint made people underestimate not only his greatness, but his intensity.
Indeed, it wasn't until Sampras became vulnerable, until his record streak of six straight years (1993-98) as the year-end No. 1, that people began to warm to him. His unlikely Open triumph last year - as the No. 17 seed - ended a title drought of more than two years, and elicited more affection from fans than he'd ever had before.
Though deeply private, Sampras has a wry sense of humor, and an appealing regular-guy persona. Courier compares him to Joe DiMaggio in the way he'd prefer to let his bat/racket do his talking.
"It's not the era we live in. We live in the sound-bite generation," Courier says. "I think it's a bit of a pity that only in hindsight will his genius be fully appreciated." He paused and laughed. "We don't know what we got till it's gone, baby."
The reluctant genius will make a return tonight, and at last be fully celebrated. Sampras will be there with wife, Bridgette, and their 10-month-old son, Christian. Even Sampras' parents, Sam and Georgia, will be there, after skipping almost all of the big matches of his career, because watching made them too nervous.
As the most prolific champion in history officially says goodbye, the man who beat him in his first match 15 years ago will take it in, glad that his forecast was correct, and that adulation will be directed to someone who has richly earned it. "He brought a class and grace to the game," Sammy Giammalva said. "Tennis players didn't have that good of an image when he came along, and he changed that. He's a tremendous champion who has been tremendous for the sport."